The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Roid Rage’ in NFL Shooting?

Posted on | December 1, 2012 | 16 Comments

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher has reportedly murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide. More details at Buzzfeed Sports.

While the motive for this murder-suicide is yet unknown, whenever I see something like this in the news — professional athletes engaged in extreme violence — I automatically suspect it may be a side-effect of steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

This suspicion may be misguided: Romantic relationships between ordinary people turn violent all the time without any parties to the crime being under the influence of Dynabol, etc. Still, whenever the crime involves one of these musclebound behemoths, I always think, “Roid rage.”

UPDATE: Kate at Victory Girls reports that Belcher’s slain girlfriend was named Kassandra Perkins, and the couple had a 2-month-old baby.

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Comments

16 Responses to “‘Roid Rage’ in NFL Shooting?”

  1. Mortimer Snerd
    December 1st, 2012 @ 1:19 pm

    Pity.
    According to the story in USA Today, it looks like tomorrow’s home game with the Carolina Panther’s will be played as scheduled.

  2. RayGarvey
    December 1st, 2012 @ 1:41 pm

    That’s an uninspired and largely specious conjecture. Belchar’s football position wouldn’t necessarily benefit from a “musclebound” physique. Impugning his character (since use of PED’s is prohibited by the NFL), postmortem, and in light of the tragedy that has befallen his family, the family of his girlfriend and his teammates is a douche move.

  3. Mortimer Snerd
    December 1st, 2012 @ 2:01 pm

    I certainly didn’t read McCain’s comment that way. I don’t think he’s impugning anyone’s character, but merely speculating on one of a number of possible explanations for the tragedy.

  4. RayGarvey
    December 1st, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

    That’s the equivalent of speculating that someone who died in a car accident was guilty of drunk driving. No facts, no evidence, just a stupid comment that impugns the character of the deceased. Get it now?

  5. Mutaman Johnson
    December 1st, 2012 @ 2:55 pm

    Bob speculating without any supporting evidence ? Stop the presses!

  6. Kansas City Chiefs’ Jovan Belcher Murders Girlfriend Kassandra Perkins; Commits Suicide
    December 1st, 2012 @ 3:14 pm

    […] Was this domestic violence or something else? It’s too early to tell. All we know is that it’s horrible. […]

  7. Esau's Message
    December 1st, 2012 @ 3:23 pm

    This has absolutely nothing to do with steroids. You may not realize it, but steroids are not the focus of performance enhancement today. HGH and other more direct enhancement are the focus today.

    This tragedy is as old as time. A man, an Alpha male if you will, commits himself to a woman. She refuses to commit herself to the man. The man takes extreme measures to maintain his prestige and dominance in the face of unknown and unknowing rivals. It is primordial.

  8. Esau's Message
    December 1st, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

    Ray, I agree. There’s no steroid issue here. It’s man and woman.

  9. Esau's Message
    December 1st, 2012 @ 3:26 pm

    He’s not speculating on several. He’s speculating on one, without any facts to back him up. At least insofar as we know. If Stacy has additional facts, bring them out now. Otherwise, elemental male testosterone and a little too much emotional imbalance will explain the whole thing.

  10. Esau's Message
    December 1st, 2012 @ 3:29 pm

    Ray, I agree again. There’s not much here to implicate steroids. And I don’t even think it’s a character issue. I mean he killed himself and his girlfriend. I doubt he needed an extra help beyond normal human emotion twisted all out of shape by commitment and betrayal.

  11. John Segundo
    December 1st, 2012 @ 4:12 pm

    Impugns the character of the deceased? He MURDERED HIS GIRLFRIEND..HE IS A MURDERER. And NFL players have used amphetimines for years, Adderal is currently in vogue…

  12. jwallin
    December 1st, 2012 @ 6:57 pm

    I’ve got a feeling he went to the practice field to put a bullet in whoever she was two timing with (some teammate) but he changed his mind or he talked to someone and they changed his mind or the rat bastard who was screwing his girl wasn’t there that day. So he finished what he could.

    Adultery has consequences. Most of the time, one of the participants doesn’t get to see the ruination they’ve caused.

    One way or another because those situations hardly ever result in a long term relationship. they’re usually about sex. Revenge sex or just plain lust.

    Still doesn’t give him the right or justification for what he did. Some folks aren’t as strong as they might appear on the outside. It takes great strength and character to keep from acting out when someone you love has shredded your heart.

  13. richard mcenroe
    December 1st, 2012 @ 8:53 pm

    For you to suggest that those thicknecked monsters out there are unadorned human beings would be to suggest there is some kind of evolutionary selection for physical characteristics going on. And that’s just crazy talk.

  14. Adjoran
    December 1st, 2012 @ 9:02 pm

    Well, a complete lack of information has never seemed to stem the opinions around here.

    But I do agree it’s tough to impugn the guy’s character after he’s just murdered his baby daughter’s mother. We should not expect any character from young people nowadays, anyway. They even think it is a GOOD thing to reelect Obama.

  15. Finrod Felagund
    December 1st, 2012 @ 9:48 pm

    Watch out– someone’s on Twitter falsely claiming to be his agent:

    http://twitchy.com/2012/12/01/jovan-belcher-twitter-account-raising-money-for-his-daughter-is-reportedly-a-fraud/

  16. sheryl
    December 2nd, 2012 @ 12:33 am

    My money is on the bath salts…….I know, that was tacky and unwarranted.